Local Residents to Protest Low Wages at McDonalds, Call for Higher Wages to Boost Local Economy

PENNSYLVANIA — As fast food workers across the nation prepare a new wave of strikes to raise their wages, local residents and labor supporters in Allentown, Pittston, Uniontown, Pittsburgh, Erie, Washington and Altoona will stage protests at McDonald’s against poverty wages and in support of the workers’ call for a $15 per hour wage floor for fast food jobs and the right to form a union without retaliation.

A growing number of consumers and ordinary families are concerned that attempts by corporations in the fast food industry to hold down wages are slowing down the economy.

As thousands of fast-food workers go on strike from coast to coast, fast-food workers, community members and labor supporters in Allentown will join the strikers’ call for wages that allow them to afford the basics, put money back into their local economies and no longer be forced onto public assistance programs to make ends meet.

These protests and rallies will be a few of the many actions in cities across the country in support of the fast-food worker movement that started with 200 workers striking in New York City a year ago. The movement has grown steadily since then, with strikes spreading to seven cities in the spring and fast-food workers in 60 cities going on strike on Aug. 29.

WHAT: Protest Against Low Pay in Support of Fast Food Worker Strikes for Higher Wages to Boost America’s Economy